The present invention relates to a memory card.
Recently, memory cards have been frequently used for a data processing system. IC cards having an IC chip and a laser card having an optical (laser) memory have been developed as memory cards. A conventional IC card incorporates an IC chip having a CPU and a PROM. Data is stored in the PROM in a predetermined format under control of the CPU, so the stored data cannot be substantially read out by a third party. In this sense, the stored data can be kept confidential. However, since the memory section comprises the PROM (semiconductor memory) and has only a small capacity, e.g., several kilo bytes, this results in inconvenience. On the other hand, the conventional laser card has a large capacity. However, a third party can check the presence or absence of pits. Stored data can be read out by a third party and cannot be properly kept confidential. Furthermore, a magnetic card having a magnetic stripe cannot satisfy storage capacity, and, data protection.